The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is alarmed to learn of death threats made to a Nepali journalist through email, after he published a story in a local daily on a war-time atrocity of 2003, in which soldiers of the Nepal army are believed to have killed some nineteen individuals on suspicion of involvement with the Maoist insurgency.
According to information received from the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), an IFJ affiliate, Kathmandu-based Ganesh Pandey received threats by email over a period of five days, from a person who identified himself as Gyanbhi Gurung. This was after a story appeared under Pandey’s byline in the Samacharpatra daily on August 20, in which the need for accountability for the war-time atrocity, known locally as the Doramba incident, was underlined.
The FNJ has condemned these threats which have been recurring in Nepal, despite the institution of a number of options for grievance redressal over published and broadcast media content.
The IFJ endorses the FNJ demand that the government take strong action against the person behind this series of threats and address itself to the task of reassuring Pandey about his security.
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